A Crack in His World
by Toxic Smiling
Summary: Those were serious words. Words of regret, of lost will. Prequel to Broken, as per requested by Heamic08.


"YOU CAN'T KEEP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!"

Avery's face registered mild shock. She was quite surprised Tyler's voice could rattle the house like that. They'd been living together for at least two years now, and she'd never heard his voice sound this angry before. Up u til now, she didn't think Tyler had an angry voice.

"I AM YOUR FATHER AND YOU WILL SHOW ME RESPECT!"

Bennett's voice rose to match his sons. Stan whimpered and covered his head with his paws. Avery knew how much he hated it when people yelled. It reminded him of the pound.

Why, she thought, did Tyler insist of riling his father up like that? If he could just apply himself, Avery knew he could raise all his grades, then they wouldn't fight.

The yelling went on for a few more moments, both of them screaming spiteful things at each other atop the noise of the deluge of rainfall outside. For a while, it seemed as though it would go on in a circle for ever, and then Avery heard a very loud 'thump'. A gasp of pain followed.

"You. Are. Worthless!" Bennett spat, "If your mother were here... She would be so disappointed in you!"

It seemed like the whole house went silent after that one. For a split second, everything was so quiet, one could hear a pin drop.

"Tyler... I-" Bennett's voice was decidedly more gentle.

"Don't you dare touch me!" A tremor crept into Tyler's yell, but that was all she heard. An angry rush of footsteps followed, then silence. Avery sighed, Stan whimpered again. She heard the sound of Tyler's window opening.

"Stay here, I'll go talk to him." She patted his head. Stan nodded.

As she crept down the hall, she panned the possible outcomes of speaking to Tyler about his behavior.

"Get out!"

"I really don't wanna talk about it!"

"Eh, it was no big deal."

She frowned, each possible response seemed more out-of-character than the last. Oh well, he couldn't be too mad at her. She was just tying to help, after all.

She crept out Tyler's window, careful not to slip on the slickness of the catwalk. It didn't take long to find him, he was on his favorite corner of the roof, seated with his legs brought up to his chest.

"You know you should really come inside," Avery said over a roll of thunder. "You'll get sick."

"Doesn't matter..." Tyler's voice came cold and quiet, another voice of his that Avery wasn't familiar with.

"You could look at me." Avery reminded him sarcastically. Tyler shook his head. The sky seemed to have no intention of ceasefire in the downpour. She sighed and opened her umbrella. Moving slowly, she sat down beside her brother. She could feel his sandy cat eyes rove over to her.

"I really don't feel like talking right now."

"Tyler..."

"Just... go inside."

"Why can't you just do what your supposed to? Is it that hard to be a good son?"

"SHUT UP!"

Tyler turned her back, his face twisted in the darkness. Only then could she see his face. Even in the dark, was impossible to miss the purple mark flowering under his cheekbone. His eyes brimmed with tears he refused to shed.

"Tyler... I..."

"He... He said mom..."

"He didn't mean it. You both were mad, he didn't-"

"What if he's right?" His voice croaked with emotion. Avery gripped his hand with her own.

"I see her. When I'm dreaming, she... she always tells me to work hard. To be a good son."

"You are a good son." Avery's own eyes filled with tears for the brother she'd come to love. How could she have not seen the signs of pain in the boy's laughing eyes?

"I wouldn't have this if is wasn't." Tentatively, he touched the bruise on his cheek. In a shuddering gasp, he turned to look at her.

"If I fell right now, I don't think it would make a difference to him." Avery turned her head at the solemness of her brothers words. The tears had finally made there way down his cheeks, joining the flow of the rain on the roof. "Do you think God would trade my life for my mom's?"

He wasn't joking, those were serious words. Words of regret, of lost will.

" Oh, Tyler." Avery didn't know what else to do. She slowly stood, and pulled the shivering boy close.

His trembling arms wrapped around her shoulders, still cold from the downpour. Were the angels crying? It would be fitting.

She was vaguely aware that Tyler was shaking like a blancmange, struggling to hold in the tears.

"You are a good son. You are, Tyler."

And that was all it took to reopen the floodgates. Every racking sob shook his form harder than the last, shielding her from the rain.

He no longer cared about himself. He felt like there wasn't much to protect anymore.

They stayed like that until the rain stopped, neither felt stable enough to let go. Both felt like if they did, the other would disappear from the coldness and cruelty of the world.

It was wet and cold when they finally let go. The outside world matched them both perfectly.

Neither of them were inside to see Bennett reading a brochure about a certain boot camp for disrespectful teenagers, located in Minnesota.

He didn't even notice the little warning box in the pamphlet: "Gloves must be provided and worn at all times as participants will be working with corrosive products, such as lye".


End file.
